Sunrise host Nat Barr has delivered a reality check to federal treasurer Jim Chalmers as he shrugged off a new poll which shows Australians remain pessimistic about their finances after nearly a full term of the Albanese government.
With an election looming, Dr Chalmers hopes voters remember the stage three tax cuts introduced nearly a year ago and measures to ease cost of living such as the electricity rebate.
However a Resolve Political Monitor poll released Thursday showed half of voters expect inflation to worsen in 2025 and were turning against the government.
The survey showed Peter Dutton led Anthony Albanese as preferred Prime Minister, and the Coalition leading Labor on a two-party preferred basis ahead of the election which must be held before May 17.
Dr Chalmers acknowledged that voters were discontent after rents and mortgages soared under this government, along with grocery prices and power bills.
‘These (poll) numbers we’re seeing are a reflection of the genuine cost-of-living pressures that people are under,’ he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
‘Even as we make remarkable progress in the economy – inflation down, wages up, unemployment low – that doesn’t always translate into how people are feeling and faring. You see that reflected from time to time in the opinion polls.’
Bur Barr warned Dr Chalmers that the financial indicators may be improving but most Australians are not feeling the benefits.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers argued the government had provided cost of living relief to Australians that was making a different despite Sunrise host Nat Barr claiming voters ‘didn’t like’ the Labor government
‘In the US the Democrats kept saying ”things are good, look at the stock market it’s booming” but people didn’t feel it and then they voted the Democrats out. How are you going to prevent the same thing happening here?’
Dr Chalmers said his government was aware that the bulk of Australians felt under pressure financially ‘and we’re responding to that’.
‘This Saturday is the anniversary of the decision we took to give every Australian taxpayer a tax cut. There is the energy bill relief, getting wages moving again, getting inflation down – all these things are really important.’
‘Australians need to know they’d be worse off under Peter Dutton if there was a change of government.’
‘If he came after Medicare again and pushed wages down again and pushed electricity prices up with this nuclear insanity, then Australians would be worse off.
‘There are good reasons to be confident about 2025. The worst of the inflation challenge is behind us. We have made good progress together.’
Barr fired back asking, if those things were true, why do Australians ‘still want Dutton’ according to the polls.
‘They’re not unanimous about some of these issues around cost of living but on the two party preferred they are, and big polls say Australians don’t like you,’ Barr said.
Dr Chalmers said his government was aware people were frustrated with the slow pace of turning around the declining standard of living.
‘When people are under pressure they express that in opinion polls and they express that politically. We take no outcome for granted in this election. I’ve always thought it would be tight. So this will be another tight election.’
The Resolve poll showed Mr Dutton ahead of Mr Albanese as preferred PM by 39 to 34 per cent.
Some 54 per cent of voters said their wages did not keep up with inflation last year and 50 per cent said they expect inflation to get worse this year.
Labor’s crown jewel in its cost of living relief was the changes it made in 2024 to the former Coalition government’s stage three tax cuts in order to distribute them more evenly across low and middle-income earners.
PM Anthony Albanese will lead Labor to the Federal election against Peter Dutton that will be held by May 17
The stage three tax cuts saw Australians earning less than $150,000 a year receive a greater return than what they would have received, with the average household saving $2000 a year.
High-income earners still received a tax cut under the proposal, but less than what was originally intended in the coalition’s original model.
Dr Chalmers said that financial support seen in the tax changes would continue.
‘Now, in this financial year, every Australian taxpayer has been getting a tax cut to help with the cost of living, and as we get wages up in the coming financial year, those tax cuts will get bigger,’ he said.
It comes as other opinion polls showed the government still has a hill to climb if it wants a second term in office.
The January poll for YouGov showed the coalition leading 51 to 49 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, despite voters backing Albanese as preferred prime minister over Dutton.
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